This recipe was such a great way to make lots of food all at once. The pound of pasta easily makes 10 servings when you serve a vegetable on the side. It is rich and delicious and is sure to be a family favorite. The bechamel sauce on tops makes for a beautiful, brown topping over the pasta.

It might look like a complicated recipe, but it is really just 3 sections…the meat sauce, the bechamel and the pasta itself. Don’t let the multiple parts overwhelm you as you can do them all very quickly.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the meat sauce:

olive oil

ground turkey – 2 lbs (you can use ground lamb or beef, but I used turkey for a healthier option)

onion, chopped – 1

garlic, minced – 3 cloves

red wine, dry – 1/2 cup

tomato paste – 1/4 cup

cinnamon – 1 tbsp

allspice – 1/2 tsp

whole tomatoes, canned – 1 (14 oz)

salt and pepper to taste

For the bechamel

butter, unsalted – 1/2 cup

flour – 1 cup

milk, 1% – 5 cups

parmesan, grated – 1 cup

egg yolks – 3

nutmeg – 1 pinch

salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta

ziti – 1 lb

olive oil – drizzle

egg whites – 3

parmesan – 1/4 cup

The first step is to start heating your pasta water. Be sure to add plenty of salt!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Put your five cups of milk in a pot and begin to heat over medium-high heat. Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t scorch!

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onions.

Cook onions for about 5 minutes until they start to become translucent.

Add the ground turkey and garlic to the pan.

Cook until turkey is browned.

Add the red wine, tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon and allspice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 25 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, start your bechamel.

Tip: Your water should be close to boiling now. Once it is, add your pasta and cook as directed.

As promised, here is the summary for this past week of food, including our final recipe for Mac and Veggies! Just to recap, this week we made Thai Noodles (with tofu or chicken), Zucchini Lou and Mac and Veggies!

I hope you enjoyed all the recipes from this week! As usual, if you have any questions, feel free to ask through comments and I will be quick to answer! I hope you are finding this system useful for creating hearty and healthy meals for you and your family. With my help, cooking as never been healthier and planning has never been easier!

So here we are….it’s Wednesday and some of you might be wondering what you are going to do to feed your family for the rest of the week.

The middle of the week is always a challenge with food. It’s easy to be motivated at the beginning of the week, but once the week really starts picking up, it gets harder to make time for a home-cooked meal.

For those of you who are looking for a healthy, cost effective way to feed your family for the next 5 days, I have the perfect two recipes for you. Both of these recipes are so simple and are packed with nutrition and flavor. They are guaranteed to please the whole family.

Not only will I give you the recipes, but here is an organized grocery list to help you out at the store!

Produce

Baby carrots – 1 bag

Baby spinach – 2 bags

Garlic – 4 cloves

Mushrooms – 6

Onion – 2

Red potatoes – 1 bag

Shallot – 1

Freezer/Cans

Artichoke hearts, quartered – 2

Corn, frozen – 1 cup

Peas, frozen – 1/2 cup

Pie crust, refrigerated (quantity of 2 per box)

Herbs/spices

Cilantro – 1/4 cup

Crushed red pepper – to taste

Diary

Butter – 2 tbsp

Egg – 1

Milk, skim – 2 cups

Mozzarella, grated – 1/2 cup

Parmesan, grated – 1/8 cup

Pantry

Flour – 3 cups

Penne – 16 ounces

Stock – 6 cups (48 ounces)

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Meat (optional)

Chicken – 4 breasts

Pot roast – 10 ounces (or any leftover amount)

These recipes together yield 22 servings of food. For a family of 4, that’s over 5 dinners! These recipes are so simple that you could throw them together in under an hour…5 nights of food for under a hour of work….you just can’t beat that rate of return!

Both of these recipes can easily be made vegetarian by eliminating the meat. Even without the meat, the flavor will still be wonderful.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do. Feel free to cook right along with me or ask me any questions you like. I love to talk food. Trust me, this method of cooking in bulk has saved me so much time without sacrificing health and flavor. I do the planning, you cook the food…it’s that simple.